Syria offers peace proposals to Israel

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Sarkozy's visit to Damascus, the first by a Western leader in at least three years, also aimed to undercut Iranian influence in Syria.

France, Turkey and Qatar are allies of the United States, a sharp critic of Damascus. The U.S. other Western powers have shunned Syria, in part because of its support of Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Thursday's summit boosted Assad's government and consolidated the international warming toward his country led by Sarkozy. In addition to their individual clout, France is the current head of the European Union and Qatar is the current head of the regional Gulf Cooperation Council. Turkey, which borders Syria and Iraq, has good ties with Israel.

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'Build the peace that everyone needs'
On Wednesday, Sarkozy encouraged direct talks between Syria and Israel.

"It is very important that the time for Syria and Israel to talk directly comes soon, to build the peace that everyone needs," Sarkozy said at a joint news conference with Assad.

Sarkozy has also stressed that Syria could play a role in persuading its ally Iran to cooperate on resolving Tehran's standoff with the West over the Iranian nuclear program. Sarkozy wants to woo Syria away from the fold of regional power Iran, which the U.S. and its European allies suspect of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

"Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. ... Nuclear weapons in Iran are a threat to peace in the region and the world. Everybody, in their own way, should get the message through," Sarkozy said.

Assad, who recently visited Tehran but apparently failed to persuade Iranians on the nuclear question, said he would continue that dialogue with the Iranian and French sides.

"We hope to reach a resolution to this problem. No one in the world can bear the consequences of any non-peaceful resolution because it will be a catastrophe," Assad said on Wednesday.